Industry News

Revised Standard Improves Building Energy Measurement

When it comes to the how-to of measuring a building’s energy use, there is much to take into consideration. Are the measurements of a building’s area—used in the equation to derive energy use per square foot—to be taken from the exterior dimensions or to the centerline of the wall? Since they are normally unoccupied, are storage spaces to be included or not?

The newly revised ANSI/ASHRAE Standard 105-2014, Standard Methods of Determining, Expressing, and Comparing Building Energy Performance and Greenhouse Gas Emissions, aims to provide a consistent method of measuring, expressing, and comparing the energy performance of buildings.

“A standard method of measurement is needed in order to be able to compare one building's energy use to another,” says Keith Emerson, chair of the Standard 105 committee. “For instance, comparing one building's summer energy use to another building's winter use would be comparing apples and oranges.”

According to Emerson, the new edition of Standard 105 includes procedures for going beyond site energy to calculate the impact of building energy use on primary energy and greenhouse gases.

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